Japanese firms have cancelled scheduled recruitment drives at China's top universities due to strained relations over the Diaoyu Islands, Beijing-based Legal Evening News reports.

Tsinghua and Peking universities have been advised by a number of Japanese firms to call off campus recruitment plans due to simmering tensions over the disputed islands.

Businesses are worried trouble may break out during their recruiting activity, an unnamed teacher told the newspaper.

"The Japanese firms are probably going to cancel the campus recruitment this year, making students participant in the recruiting process from other channels," said the teacher.

A principal from the Tokyo head office of a Japanese company, who asked not to be named, said the firm had shifted from campus recruitment to other means.

"In addition, the headquarters in Tokyo will not send interviewers to avoid trouble, and the branch offices in China will take charge," according to the source.

Chen Jiajie, public relations manger from zhaopin.com, a leading Chinese job-hunting website, revealed several Japanese firms asked the website to move their employment advertisements to inconspicuous positions in late September.

"Graduates have to obtain the recruitment plan on the website and send their resumes," said Chen.

The current tense situation in China-Japan relations is due to Japan's plan to "purchase" the Diaoyu Islands.